ART AND DRAMA

After a week of gentle rain, the Red Cardinal Garden of Neglect is picking itself up and looking much more refreshed...

The birds are enjoying things too..

and we enjoyed a great night out at the new Australian production of My Fair Lady, always one of my favourite musicals.

To celebrate 60 years since its Broadway debut, the original leading lady Dame Julie Andrews, has come to Australia as Director.

Here she is with the stars of the Brisbane production.

Dame Julie is now 81 years young, and still gorgeous...

and here she is as Eliza Doolittle in the original stage production, back in the 1950s.

The show was absolutely 'loverley'...

and here's the secret from our great night at the theatre:

We were up near the front of the stalls, and near to the side aisle.

Just as the lights dimmed three people came and sat beside us, brought out clipboards, and made notes on the show, with whispered asides during the applause.  And guess what?  One of them was Dame Julie herself!

I could not help taking a peek over at her from time to time.  

She is very tall and slender with delicate features and very fine skin.  Just lovely.  There was no chance of conversation or an autograph - they timed their exit just before the lights came back on.

Meantime, I've also been enjoying 'Making Modernism' at QAG.

No photos are allowed, but here are a few of my favourites, shown in my catalogue:

Georgia O'Keeffe: 'Petunia No 2' 1924

Georgia O'Keeffe: 'Pelvis IV' 1944

O'Keeffe collected old weathered bones in the desert of New Mexico.  This beautifully painted picture gives a glimpse of the brilliant blue skies of the American West, with a daytime moon.

Margaret Preston 'Western Australian Gum Blossom' 1928

Margaret Preston 'Australian Coral Flowers' 1928

Margaret Preston 'Implement Blue' 1927

Grace Cossington Smith 'Things on an Iron Tray on the Floor' c 1928

Grace Cossington Smith 'The Window' 1956

 

Grace Cossington Smith 'The Lacquer Room' 1936

  These three early Twentieth Century women artists, two Australian and the American O'Keeffe, each forged their own personal and individual Modernist style of painting.  I hope you enjoyed a look at their work.

Spare a thought tonight for the people in tropical North Queensland as Cyclone Debbie edges closer and closer to our coastline between Mackay and Townsville.  The cyclone is expected to make landfall in about twelve hours from now, bringing extremely high winds and a possible four metre storm surge, escalating to at least category 4.

Today about 25,000 people were evacuated from low lying areas, and the authorities are doing everything possible to prepare for this weather event and prevent loss of life.

Australia is a large country, and as this event is 800km (500 miles) north of us,  we are safe and sound in our nest. 

 Thoughts and prayers for those in the affected areas.

XXXXX

ST PATRICK'S DAY

Wishing all my readers a happy St. Patrick's Day.

We like to have a bit of celebratory fun on the day...

after all, St Patrick is the Patron saint of those named Patricia...

Mr C surprised me with a pair of sparkling Irish shamrock earrings..

sourced at Trinity College (when my back was turned) during our visit to Dublin last September..

I wore them to lunch..

and tied my shamrock scarf to my bag..

How to reciprocate?

I whipped up some shamrock cookies...

I'll see if we have some Irish Breakfast tea to have with them.

It's a good day to look at a few favourite pictures from our lovely trip to Ireland in 2016...

The oldest harp in Ireland, at Trinity College, Dublin.

Ancient ruins, full of charm..

Emerald green fields, from here to eternity...

Oh, those doors in Dublin...

and the adorable green post boxes...

and of course, our son's beautiful wedding to his Irish Lass:

Enjoy the day of the Wearing of the Green!

XXXX

Edited to add:

Just as I finished this post, a great clap of thunder heralded a most unusual storm.  It rained, but the sun shone throughout the downfall which lasted about ten minutes.  I took my camera and ran outside looking for a rainbow:

Indeed there was, and I went to a better vantage point:

A second bow appeared above the first...

The rainbow ends just where I go on my walks. 
See those little white dots?
They are a flock of white cockatoos..

What a wonderful event on St Patrick's Day!

AUTUMN?

It rained today..

and I think some of those lorikeets had no idea what it was...

over 90% of our State now being drought-declared...

The heat has continued, and although it is officially Autumn,

there is no sign of it.

Here's a recent picture of our youngest grandson, C2 in Canada..

just to help us cool off a bit..

Remember those snake deterrents we bought before Christmas, when the Canadians were coming to visit?

They worked a couple of months, emitting their strange vibration, but they have all become corroded in their little solar powered batteries and no longer work.

Cue the first snake sighting of the season, when I went over towards this limp tree fern to take a picture of the effects of drought.

It slithered down near the fence, and hopefully went away..

At least after a bit of rain the tree ferns are now standing proud once more.

This was the only flower I could find in the garden this week.

Thank goodness for the evergreen hedge plants for a bit of greenery..

And did you see what Her Majesty wore pinned to her yellow coat at Westminster Abbey yesterday?

Yes, it is the Australian Wattle Brooch making an appearance.

I'll have to wear my faux version somewhere soon - it is time for an excursion.

I bought a little yellow clutch at a recycle shop for $3, because why not?

I put a tiny pot from the Hopi Indians of New Mexico into Mr C's mini Zen Garden.  A mix of cultures, but I am excited by the Making Modernism exhibition at the Art Gallery which opened at the weekend.

The Georgia O'Keeffe paintings are so stunning, and it is a rare treat to have them come to Australia.  O'Keeffe spent much of her painting life in New Mexico, as you probably know. 

While we are looking at the Zen Garden, I want to tell you what happened to me on Facebook.  Someone hacked into my Facebook account and made a clone version of me, same name and some of my photos, and then sent friend requests to all of my friends.  Some of you would have received them.  I was unawares this was going on until our daughter alerted me.  My fault was I did not realise my privacy settings were set to 'anyone can see' instead of 'friends only' which is how a stranger had access.  They then made a 'clone' of me, and the attempt to gather in my friends is with the intention of collecting their data or finding a way to defraud them.   Most people know to delete a friend request from somebody who is already your Facebook friend, but I am telling the story for those who have not experienced this.  One friend had accepted the friendship of the 'clone' Patricia, and was then subjected to a series of messages about large sums of money available for the taking (something similar to the well-known Nigerian scam to which many Australians have succumbed).

I hope nobody has been hurt by this event, and I will pay much closer attention to my Facebook and Instagram settings in future.

May the rain and Autumn descend on us ...

XXXX